A Republican congressman has forced the US House of Representatives towards a vote on impeaching Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth over the war in Iran, in the sharpest challenge yet to the Pentagon chief and a direct test of President Donald Trump’s grip on his own party.
Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky took to the House floor on Monday and read out eight articles of impeachment before filing them as a privileged resolution. Under House rules, that forces the chamber’s leadership to act within two legislative days: table the resolution, send it to committee, or allow a floor vote. A vote could come as soon as Wednesday.
Three of the eight articles accuse Hegseth of violating the War Powers Resolution of 1973, the post-Vietnam law that limits how long American forces can remain in hostilities without approval from Congress. The articles argue the Iran war was waged without a declaration of war, statutory authorisation, an attack on the United States or an imminent threat, making it unlawful from its first day. The other articles cover the lethal strikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific, which the resolution says killed at least 221 people; the bombing of a primary school in Minab, Iran, on 28 February, which it says killed or wounded more than 200 people; and the Yemen campaign, Operation Rough Rider. One article also accuses Hegseth of violating the free speech rights of Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, whom he sought to prosecute after Kelly and five other lawmakers urged troops to refuse illegal orders.
The arithmetic is tight. With 433 members seated, impeachment needs 217 votes if everyone votes. Democrats hold 214 seats, so they need three more votes from the 218 Republicans and one independent. Massie is one of them. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has said he is a “hard yes”, and Massie puts the odds of passage at better than fifty-fifty. House Speaker Mike Johnson opposes the effort, saying impeachment “in the middle of hostilities abroad” would be “a terrible thing for our allies and our enemies to see.”
The vote comes one week after midterm elections in which voter anger over the war helped Democrats win control of both the House and the Senate from January. Vice President JD Vance has publicly questioned the conflict, while Hegseth has defended it as “courageous and historic”. Massie, a Trump critic who is leaving office in January, warned that impeachment would be “much gentler” than what awaits Hegseth once Democrats take control: “They will hold hearings and trials. President Trump should replace Secretary Hegseth now while he can still get a replacement confirmed in the Senate.”
Hegseth is promising to stay and fight. He has mounted a defiant social media campaign, saying it “didn’t work against President Trump, and it won’t work with me”, and has announced a press conference at the Pentagon on Tuesday, his first since May. Trump has backed him, telling CBS’s 60 Minutes: “They want to impeach him. Very unfair. We had two wars, we won both.” Some Republican lawmakers worry that if Hegseth stays, his strained relationship with Congress will undermine the administration’s push for a $1.5 trillion defence spending package.
Impeachment is only the charge. If the House votes to impeach, the Senate then holds a trial, and conviction needs a two-thirds majority — 67 votes if all 100 senators are present. That looks unlikely, with Republicans holding 53 Senate seats. Only one civilian leader of the US military has been impeached before: Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876, who was acquitted by the Senate. The articles are allegations in a political charging document, not findings by a court or tribunal, and Hegseth has not been charged with any crime.
Sources: Reuters, “Hegseth faces expected US House impeachment vote this week”, 9 November 2026 — https://www.reuters.com/world/us/hegseth-faces-expected-us-house-impeachment-vote-this-week-2026-11-09/ . Note: the vote-count claims in this story rest on congressional sources cited by Reuters; the vote itself has not yet taken place.
